In response to
Israel’s ongoing bombardement of Gaza, the Center for
Constitutional Rights issued the following statement:

We
condemn in the strongest terms the Israeli government’s
indiscriminate killing and collective punishment of
civilians in the Gaza Strip and call on the Obama
administration to press for an immediate cease-fire on all
sides that takes into account the need to end the inhumane
and unlawful seven-year closure of Gaza. The blockade has
resulted in severe shortages of water, food, electricity and
medical supplies, the denial of freedom of movement to the
Palestinians of Gaza and near economic collapse. As of
today, 158 Palestinian civilians have been killed in this
latest assault, including 36 children and 29 women; over a
thousand have been injured, mostly civilians. A center for
people with disabilities, a mosque and a hospital have been
shelled, and hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed, causing
the displacement of thousands of civilians.

This
aggression is possible only because of unqualified U.S.
diplomatic, economic, and military support for the Israeli
government’s occupation of Palestine and apartheid
policies in the region. Last Friday, the U.S. House of
Representatives passed a resolution in support of Israel’s
“right to defend its citizens and ensure the survival of
the State of Israel” yet made no mention of Israel’s
bombardment of Gaza, the scores of Palestinian civilians
killed nor Israel's mass destruction of Gaza’s
infrastructure and housing; a similar Senate resolution is
scheduled for committee mark up today, Wednesday, July
16.

Meaningful pressure by the U.S. government on Israel,
including withdrawal of its unconditional support, is the
first step to stop further senseless loss of life. But to
help break the cycle of continued occupation, repression and
violence, the entire international community must also seek
meaningful accountability for the serious violations of
international law that have occurred.

Raji Sourani,
Director of CCR ally organization the Gaza-based Palestinian
Center for Human Rights, wrote this week, “It is a
constant cycle of illegality that has returned us to this
point. Illegal attacks are used to justify illegal attacks,
and on it goes. There are two constants: the continuous
suffering of civilians, and total impunity for those
suspected of committing war crimes.” CCR joins the call
for an immediate end to this vicious
cycle.

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